If you want to start making money online, selling templates is a great place to begin. They’re quick to create and easy to sell, and once everything is set up, they can be a powerful first step to bring people into your business long-term.
But what kind of templates should you sell?
After watching +150,000 entrepreneurs just like you build businesses on Podia, we’ve got some suggestions.
In this article, we’ll share:
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10 ideas for templates to sell online
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Examples of how to use each template in your business
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The system you can use to bring in more sales and build customer relationships long into the future
By the end of this article, you’ll have several great template examples to get you started, so you can make more sales and grow your online business.
10 examples of templates to sell online (and make money!)
If you have a tool that saves you time, keeps you organized, or helps you get closer to your goals, you might already have a template your audience would be willing to pay for.
Take a look through each of these template ideas to get inspiration from real creators so you can build a great template your audience loves.
(To go a step further, you can also check out this guide on how to sell templates online to turn those one-time sales into a system that brings in new customers on autopilot.)
#1 Canva templates
Okay, hear me out. Canva templates might not seem groundbreaking — nearly every “template ideas” article has Canva on the list — but there are virtually endless possibilities for what you can create. Plus, Canva makes it easy to share your template with other users in seconds.
Canva is graphic design software for making images, icons, logos, slide presentations, worksheets, and other visual media.
Business owners use it to create images for social media, teachers use it to create classroom resources, job seekers use it to make nice resumes, and my mom uses it to create invitations to the family reunion. Wedding invitations, calendars, flyers, wall art, ebooks, itineraries — you can make it all in Canva.
So basically, if your target audience could use some pretty graphics in their life, you can probably save them time with a Canva template.
For example, Margaret Bourne from Confident Blogger Academy sells media kit templates for bloggers and influencers. They can customize the template directly in Canva and use it when pitching brands and applying for press opportunities.
Levee Road Studio sells Canva pin templates so business owners can make more Pinterest content in less time. All they need to do is add their own colors, titles, and images to the pin templates, and they’re ready to post.
And Jessica Hanlon offers a 15-page Canva template to help clients set the art direction for their branding photoshoots. This template helps photographers understand their customers and capture images that are more aligned with their brand and personality.
How to use this idea in your business: If your target audience members need visuals, whether it’s for business, learning, entertainment, or life in general, you can speed up the creation process by creating a guideline template in Canva.
Design your template and leave space for your buyer to add their own information. Then click “Share” and select “Template link” to share your finished product as a template that others can edit.
#2 Notion templates
Notion is productivity and organization software that lets people build a digital home base for their work. Notion is mainly page-based, so you can create pages to remember notes, keep track of long-term projects, and keep up with to-do lists. You can also add spreadsheet pages for organizing data and interlink pages together so it’s easy to find all the information you need in one spot.
Notion has built-in templates for things like student agendas, travel planners, workout trackers, and workplace goal sheets, but you can also make your own templates based on your specific audience.
Like how the Art of Healing Earth offers this Master Notion System for organizing your life and achieving your goals. This Notion template comes with daily and weekly schedules, business organization tools, habit trackers, and dashboards for organizing your goals all in one central hub.
And Luscofia has a free agenda Notion template with weekly and monthly review pages, as well as space for tasks and events. The download also comes with instructions on how to use Notion for buyers who are new to the system.
How to use this idea in your business: Notion templates work great for planners, calendars, journals, organizers, and data management. Think: what can I help my target audience organize?
Like Canva, Notion has easy sharing features. Once you’ve set up your page, select “Publish to web” and make sure “Allow duplicate as template” is toggled on to let others access your template.
#3 Social media templates
Most businesses and entrepreneurs are on social media in some form, so if you serve anyone who uses social media, templates can lighten their load. With templated social media content (like images, captions, cover banners, etc.), you give people a starting point that they can customize with their branding and messaging.
To see this in action, take a look at Paula Hickey from PSH Virtual Solutions. Paula sells a social media template pack that comes with Instagram graphics, Pinterest pins, channel covers, and a media kit. The template ensures that buyers have a consistent look across all their social media platforms, and they can easily customize their fonts and colors to match their style.
How to use this idea in your business: If your customers use social media, you can help them save time by creating sets of great-looking templates that they can reuse. Make them using a tool like Canva or Adobe Express, then add them to Podia to sell to your audience.
Pro tip: This could make a great lead magnet if you offer bigger-ticket social media courses or social media management services too!
#4 Spreadsheet templates
Who doesn’t love a good spreadsheet?
Spreadsheets are great for helping your audience plan tasks, make a budget, or calculate information in an organized way. You can also use spreadsheets to set up calendars, trackers, and manage data. With a spreadsheet template, you set up all the fields first, and your buyer can fill in their data to see the results.
For example, this budgeting spreadsheet bundle by Bravely Go comes with monthly budgeting templates, a debt organizer and payoff strategy, a 31-day spending tracker, and a financial to-do list to help people get ahead on their financial journey. They recommend using the bundle with Google Sheets, and customers can add all their details after they download.
And Marijana Kay from Freelance Bold sells a project planner spreadsheet for freelance writers. The spreadsheet works with Google Sheets and Excel and helps freelancers manage their workload, track income, and have more balance in their business.
How to use this idea in your business: Spreadsheet templates are best for organizing data and projects, so think about what info your target audience members might use to get closer to their goals. You can build your spreadsheet in Google Sheets or Excel with all the formulas and fields set up and ready to go, then they can add their own information for a quick win.
To sell your spreadsheet in Podia, you can upload the file as a digital download. Since every spreadsheet is different, it’s a good idea to include a training video or instruction sheet for your customers.
#5 Journal templates
Journaling templates are a great way to help your audience organize their thoughts and reflect. Journals can include prompts and discussion questions, and they also pair well with planners so people can keep track of what they do each day, week, and month. Your journal can be a digital product built in a tool like Canva or Notion, or you can make a printable version if that makes more sense for your audience.
For instance, Pen to Publish sells templates for bible study notebooks and prayer journals. Buyers can customize the journal and use it themselves or use it as a resource for their church.
And Matt Ragland sells a bullet journal program for people who love the BuJo planner method. His program comes with printable templates and tracing sheets you can use to set up your own bullet journal (even if you’re not an artist).
How to use this idea in your business: Journaling can be a powerful tool for your customers, so create your journal template with prompts and guiding questions that will help them get closer to their goals. A journal can also make a great upsell product or bundle add-on to help your customers get more out of their purchases.
#6 Art and crafting templates
Art and crafting projects often rely on templates, patterns, or guides to create the finished product. If you’re an art educator or crafting creator, templates can make your designs easily accessible for your students. Sewing patterns, painting guides, tracing worksheets, and hand-lettering templates could all be things that help your customers create their best work in less time.
A great example of this is artist Jo Hill, who teaches textile courses and sells embroidery templates. Students can choose from different design templates (like garden birds, bees, and festive wreaths) that can be used in their free-motion embroidery projects.
And artist Pamela Groppe also has templates for her audience, like this traceable highland cow template for painters. Her audience members can buy just the painting template or add on her 14-page workbook at checkout for more in-depth guidance.
How to use this idea in your business: Art, crafting, sewing, quilting, crochet, and other creativity educators, this one is all you! Give your students a head start on their next project with a digital or printable template.
Some of these can be designed using standard tools like Adobe or InDesign, but for certain projects (like drafting and grading sewing patterns), you might need to use specialized software.
Once it’s ready, you can add your template to Podia as a standalone digital download or bundle it with other products and upsells to help your audience go further in their craft.
#7 Copywriting templates
If your target audience needs written copy for their website, client communications, or other aspects of their business, copywriting templates can save them time. With writing templates, you provide the layout of what to say, and your buyer fills in the details.
For example, Jenny Roth sells a plug-and-play copywriting template to help business owners craft great contact pages for their websites. It comes with six website sections that buyers can customize and use to make their page more effective.
And Kaleigh Moore from The Writing Lab offers a freelance writing template bundle, which includes 11 templates that help writers save time and get more clients. There are templates for proposals, writing pitches, and onboarding emails, as well as other behind-the-scenes communications that freelancers need.
How to use this idea in your business: Writing templates can be as simple as a Word Doc or Google Doc. Type in the structure of the template, leaving blank spaces where your buyer should add their information. You can highlight these spaces using a different color so it’s easy to find and customize. Then upload your doc as a digital download product in Podia, and watch the sales roll in.
#8 Email templates
Similar to copywriting templates, email templates can be a game-changer if your audience members send newsletters or run sales funnels. Most business owners use email in some way, so if you can help your clients save time with some pre-made email templates, that’s a win!
Photographer Meg Marie does this with her email template library. This bundle of twenty-one email templates is specially designed for her audience of brand photographers, and it covers things like new client inquiries, wardrobe and style tips for upcoming shoots, and emails asking for referrals and reviews.
And speaking of photographers, Kelli Connor also sells email templates for photography professionals in her niche. Her product includes 50 evergreen email newsletters that can be sent throughout the year, and buyers can customize them and set them up with minimal editing.
How to use this idea in your business: This idea works great if you serve other creators who need content for their businesses. You can create the email drafts using Word, Docs, or another word processor, and leave blank spaces for your customers to add their own customizations. Then you can sell the document as a digital download file that your buyers can copy, paste, customize, and send.
#9 Lightroom templates
Lightroom is a popular photo editing software, and anyone can create preset templates that change the look of a photo with just a click. If you’ve got a knack for making photos look great, presets let you share that talent with your customers.
Cole Connor, for instance, offers a freebie with his Lightroom presets for real estate photography. This is a great download for a realtor, Airbnb host, or anyone who needs to get nice interior shots. Cole’s preset template serves as a free lead magnet that points people toward his full course about how to take better real estate photos.
Signature Edits sells bundles of presets created by professional photographers and retouchers that all center around certain themes like “Moody,” “Summer,” or “Christmas.” Buyers can pick individual preset packs or buy a full bundle that comes with all presets for one flat rate.
And Jill Gum sells a Lightroom preset bundle geared toward casual users who want to improve their smartphone pictures — no need to be a professional photographer to benefit! Her presets give photos a brighter look so buyers can add her aesthetic to their personal photos whenever they want.
How to use this idea in your business: This works best if your audience has an interest in photography or just wants to take better photos.
To make presets, add a photo to Lightroom, customize it by adjusting the photo settings until it looks the way you want, then click “Create Preset.” You’ll give your preset a name, and then you can export the photo with the preset attached as a DNG file. When your audience imports your file into their own Lightroom account, they’ll be able to access the preset you made.
To sell them, you can add all your files as digital downloads in Podia, set your price, and press publish.
#10 Niche templates
Finally, there are lots of templates that don’t fit into a neat category because they’re specific for your audience. Templates that help your buyers plan their novels, pitch their services, track their blog post traffic, draft a great cover letter, or create the perfect travel itinerary can be a no-brainer for your audience when they see how much time you could save them.
For example, beauty entrepreneur Bex Irvine sells templated text scripts that other beauty professionals can use with clients. The scripts cover everything from review requests and price changes to setting boundaries with clients, and everything is templated out, so buyers never have to wonder what to say.
Or take Esther Kurtz from WriteOn. Esther’s target audience is authors, so she created a template to help them develop characters for their novels. Her character planning template covers all major details to consider when creating lifelike leads and has an audio explaining how to use it.
And Emily Shultz from JobSpark uses a free resume template as a lead magnet to connect with prospective career coaching clients. The free template is a great starting point, but for people who want to go deeper, Emily also offers 1:1 coaching and resume revision services.
How to use this idea in your business: This one is all about getting specific with your audience. Send out an email or post on social media to ask your customers what kinds of templates would make their lives easier. You might get an idea that’s totally unique to your industry, and that’s awesome! Imagine how excited your people will be when you make a template that’s exactly customized to their needs.
The simple system you can use to sell templates online
Once you’ve decided which template will work best for you, there are a few more things you can do to incorporate it with the rest of your online business.
Step 1: Make your template and add it to Podia. Podia handles the checkout, payment processing, and file delivery for you, and your sales page, website, and email marketing are already connected.
Step 2: At checkout, add any related products as upsells. These will be shown to your buyer during checkout, and you can add exclusive discounts to entice them to buy.
Step 3: Use Podia’s built-in email marketing feature to send a welcome sequence whenever someone purchases your template. These emails will go automatically and can include information about your business, valuable tips and content, and links to other products they might like.
Step 4: Drive more sales to your template with blog posts and social media content. You can link to your template within your free content, so people find you organically. After you’ve made some sales, you can also add an affiliate program for your template to let happy customers earn a commission for promoting you.
You can read about this system in more detail in this article: How to build a sales funnel in Podia.
Building a business around your online template idea
You’ve got your template. You’ve got your system. Now the last step is to set everything up in Podia. You can add your template as a digital download product, set your price, and customize your sales page, all in one spot. And you can also use Podia to add upsells for related products and build automated email campaigns that promote any other courses, coaching programs, webinars, and offers you make in the future.
It all starts with a template, so start your 30-day free trial today. I can’t wait to see what you make.
